You Ready, Partner?
by bubbrlove
Summary: So it's AU. Based after season 3. Seth and Richie are a clean up crew for the new Nine Lords and they need help. Cat has serious trust issues and finds someone who pushes her every limit. Sometimes fate can bring you together and sometimes fate can be a real son of a bitch. SethxOC
1. New Recruits, New Beginnings

**RR :)**

 _When the dust finally settled on the blood soaked battlefield, a brother held his brother in his arms. "I won't let you die." He whispered, his eyes turning to slits and fangs dropping from his upper jaw. "Geckos never leave Geckos behind." He pressed his fangs to the pulse, letting his venom seep into his brother's blood._

Seth never wanted to be a Culebra, he won' t call it hate but he just is not down for that freaky Mexican vampire shit, yet while waiting for the sun to go down, he remembers that shit show of a night when, against his own will, Richie changed him. He never blamed Rich for it, hell, if roles were reversed he would have done the same but now here he is, sitting in the Gecko brothers hideout, never able to feel the sun's warm heat again. The hunger isn't too bad, he manages to feed only when he needs to, when his body burns with an unquenchable thirst; he is not a killer or so he tells himself but every time he drains the life from some evil sick fuck, he cannot feel anything but satisfaction. Richie revels in this; his brother always seemed a little more fucked in the head, Santanico made that very clear but as long as the Gecko brothers remain the Gecko brothers, they are unstoppable; or so he thought.

 **CAT POV**

She has to keep running; she can hear them behind her, the hissing of their tongues. She knows they are going to catch her, they always do in the end but she has to keep trying to escape

Cat was an orphan until she left the system at 18; she bounced from foster home to foster home due to foster fathers who were always too handsy and didn't like being told no. When she was able to do things on her own; she did everything she could to get by without needing the help of anyone else until she ran into a man who she thought was going to be her one-way ticket to paradise.

Catherine Rose Richards was tall, curvy with ash-blonde hair and grey-blue eyes; she was not just book smart but could also hold her own, you needed to; growing up how she did. What life never prepared her for was the rugged, sexy Mexican who swayed her with false promises. That is how she ended up in a bar in Houston, Texas. That is how she ended up a feedbag. That is how her life ended or truly begun.

Cat is caught shortly after and is tied to a chair, as is the weekly ritual but tonight it is different; a new comer came to the bar and asked about her, who she was, where she was from, how old was she? The bartender shakes his head and points to the sign next to him: _NO QUESTIONS. Pay up or_ _fuck off._ He wouldn't know, the Culebra that stuck her here never divulged any of that information and never came back, she is his property, he only knew how long he _owned_ her for; he couldn't give a shit about her former life. The new comer comes into the room where they hold her and closes the door behind him.

"What is your name, pretty lady?" He doesn't look like any of the other Culebras that normally visit her. He is a white male, shaggy blonde hair with hazel eyes.

"Catherine, Cat for short." It feels like forever since she actually spoken to someone.

"Cat, cool, hi I'm Professor Tanner." He smiles at her; she vaguely recognizes the name but is too tired to dreg the memory up. He licks his lips in a way that is all too familiar to Cat. "Where are you from?"

"New York." There is no reason to lie; no reason to hide anything even with alarm bells ringing in the back of her head. After the day she had, a change in routine was the closest thing to nice life will ever get. One day she will not be so pretty to look at and the bartender will just kill her and get a new girl to replace her.

"Ah…nice place, how old are you, Cat?"

"I'm…" She stops to think for a second. How old is she? How long has she been here? She was 22 when she was dumped in this hellhole but she cannot quite…. "I'm 25. I think."

"I see. You've been here for a while haven't you?" He traces his finger across her jaw line. Cat nods and watches as his eyes turn into slits and his fangs lower from his upper jaw. "I'm here to help"

That is the last thing she remembers before she passes out from the pain.

 **SETH POV**

Seth and Richie are coming back from a Xibalban hunt; a few demons are still on the loose, on top of the Amaru cultists and it is a bitch to weed them all out on their own. Santanico was elected to be one of the new Nine Lords, the Ranger was trying to sort things out with his family after Amaru had kidnapped them and the kid went off with the Professor on some mission the bastard thought was more important. Therefore, it is just the Gecko brothers, riding together at the word of the newly made council.

"This shit sucks Richie, we brought that crazy psycho bitch down and we don't get anything AGAIN but to be errand boys." Seth slams the door of the GTO.

"Relax brother; we get paid well don't we? Never have to find someone to eat, rid the world of the disgusting fucks in prison and more cash than we could ever make robbing a bank." Seth walks off, he hates every word of it and he hates how Richie is right. Not long after walking inside their hideout, the Gecko brothers hear a sound and point their guns directly at the familiar faces before them.

"What the hell Professor?" Seth un-cocks his gun and places it back in its holster. "And why the hell did you bring outsiders here?" He flicks his wrist at the three Culebras behind Tanner; his throat burns, he is getting hungry and a little cranky.

"Chill, amigo. These are the new recruits." Tanner went to stand proudly beside the new faces. "They are new additions to the family." One of these additions makes Seth's stomach turn, in a way he never thought it could again.

 **CAT POV**

The hideout is impressive and she already knows who stand before her, the infamous Gecko brothers. She remembers their mess of an escape across the border being all over the news, then for the three years she was in the bar; she remembers Culebras always talking about these two brothers who seemed to have teamed up with a Peacekeeper and other Culebras but she does not know who is who. One wears glasses, hair slicked back; a black tuxedo with a white shirt underneath. He holds himself with purpose, with eyes that calculated everything. He seems to approve of them being here.

The other one clearly does not after the outburst he had at Tanner; Cat instinctively wanted to step in but Tanner had told her on the way there not to push things yet. The man saved her life and she is willing to kick ass to repay the debt. His hair isn't slicked back like his brothers and he wore all black including black gloves; just underneath the suit is the hint of a tattoo by his neck. He talks a lot; she doesn't even know him and she already figured that out. It is not until he looked at her; did he shut up for a second.


	2. Freedom

**CAT POV**

They make their way into an area of the hideout that someone transformed into living quarters; Cat snorts at the way they are lined up like a military boot camp, Tanner shoots her a warning glance. One brother stood still, watching while the other paces in front of them.

"Now, the Professor here thinks you can help us in our job as the fucken cleanup crew; I beg to differ. Before I have any of you newbies watching my back, I need to make sure of one thing; if a job goes bad, you all will stick to the plan. Adjust if you must but you stick to the plan." Cat cannot help but snort at this speech. This guy is obviously the talker of the pair, slightly dramatic and has just about a bigger trust issue than she does; but that causes her to become a target. "Find something funny, Princess? Because all I see in front of me are three wannabes and you look like you would be the first to turn tail and run." He walks towards her and a faint smirk appears on his face at the tick in her jaw. She does not like him; he is just as much of a pompous asshole as every other man she ever met.

"And who are you anyway? I was under the impression that I was going to be meeting the Gecko brothers. All I see in front of me is some paranoid Culebra in a suit." She hears Tanner mutter under his breath.

"Oh, boy."

"Who am I?" He got up in her face. "I am Seth fucken Gecko and that there is my brother Richie." Richie waves. "Now who are you?"

 **SETH POV**

This girl, Cat, really gets under his skin and he does not like that at all, the only girl who could ever do that was Kate and well...him and her are not on the best of terms anymore. His heart sinks a little when he thinks of her.

He listens as each new recruit shares a piece of their past; he hates the touchy feely shit but wants to make sure none of these fucks will run out on him or his brother. Jacob is from New Orleans; a convict who was shot and left to die when Scott found him. This is apparently his new leaf on life. _Humph, if only he knew how shit this life can be._ Devon is an ex marine, lost a bet with Tanner to become a bloodsucking motherfucker who kicks ass. _He will be useful in a fight._ Now as for _her_ , she just looks at the Professor.

"Shy now, Princess?" He nearly laughs at the face she shoots him. He can tell this is making her feel uncomfortable and even though he feels a little guilty; he also feels good that he is making her squirm. That will show her who is boss.

"I grew up in New York. I don't trust Culebras and I owe my life to Professor Tanner." He frowns at her response. That is not much to go on.

"Okay guys, the suns almost coming up and we will start training at dusk." Seth looks over at his brother. He knows he is right and he is starting to get a bit on edge but he still does not trust them. "I'll show you around." Richie walks up to him and gives him a pat on the shoulder. "Relax brother, it's all cool."

When everyone settled in and Seth managed to have a bite to eat which took off the edge, the sun is well and truly up and Seth stares at the only uncovered window. He misses feeling the sun hitting his face, he misses the dreams of getting rich and fat and dying in the arms of a beautiful woman. Seth decides he needs to wash off this day, wash the blood from his chin and hands then lie in bed and wish for a quiet sleep. He makes his way to the only bloody bathroom in this large ass warehouse and it is not until it is too late does he see the naked form of Cat. _Shit._ He is about to duck back out until he sees spots littering her shoulders, neck and arms. What the fuck happened to her, he knows exactly what those marks are but how did she come to have so many? Is that what she meant by she doesn't trust Culebras? He shakes his head and makes his way towards the Professor's room; if anyone would know, it would be him.

"I don't know much, just what she told me and what I saw when I bit her." Seth screws his nose up at the last bit. "She was conned into a similar thing you did by our friend Carlos and was given to a bartender in Texas to be used as a feed bag for weary travellers." If anything can make Seth Gecko sick, it would have to be this. A naive young woman tricked into a twisted version of El Rey only to be tied to a chair for three years while some bloodsucking Mexican vampire shoved his fangs into her. No wonder she doesn't like this situation; she's here for the same reason Seth is, no other way out. Adjusted the plan. Yeah he would have to admit he does feel a little shit about his treatment earlier.

"Thanks, Professor." He grabs a beer and heads for his own bed.

 **CAT POV**

A shower is what she needed, clean clothes are also a given; Cat rolls down the sleeves of her flannelette shirt to cover the bite marks before making her way to her room. Richie showed her around before, he seemed nice enough; far from the stories she had heard when she was first captured. Off the rails, insane, completely fucken batshit crazy, he seems so cool and collected but everyone has a past. She sees Seth walking towards his quarters, sipping on a beer; he salutes her before closing the door, a slight blush rushes up her neck. If he weren't a complete asshole, he would have been her type. She closes the door to her own room and looks around her, no ropes to tie her down, nothing to restrain her, to quieten her screams; this is a new life albeit an undead, probably-gonna-get-killed-by-some-demon-tomorrow life but a new one at that; and with that as her final thought, Cat curls up on her new bed and cries.


	3. Like What You See?

**CAT POV**

The next few nights are gruelling; train, feed, sleep and repeat. Seth would stand watch as Scott trains them; Cat can feel his eyes watching her every move while Tanner and Richie are in the Professor's little Xibalban room looking for new signs of a threat. It is always the same drill: two against one. Learn to defend and attack at the same time because Xibalbans do not fight fair and Culebras are at the bottom of the chain compared to some of the bastards they could face. Muscles that have not been used in years scream in exhaustion at the end of every night but Cat must admit that it feels damn good to be doing something other than running in fear.

After a truly hard but successful day, Cat, Jacob and Devon are celebrating with a beer; Devon always has the upper hand having been through training that is more rigorous and Jacob can take Cat down easily but for the first time in these last few training sessions, she managed to give more than she took.

"Alright boys," She claps Jacob on the back, despite his past; he is quite a funny guy. "I'm off to clean up. I'll catch you two tomorrow." They laugh her off as she makes her way to the bathroom. Once inside, she hears the shower running; with her hand still holding the door open she considers leaving whoever is in here alone until she hears a strangled groan. She quietly closes the door and peers around the corner, it feels wrong spying on whoever it is but she has to make sure they are okay. She spies the tattoos immediately, travelling from his wrist to his neck and silently admires the contour of his muscles. Seth is leaning against the wall with his head directly under the jet; his shoulders hunched and he is shaking his head, muttering to himself. She feels a pang in her heart but also a heat rush to her stomach; she realises a moment too late that she has instinctively moved forward and alerts Seth to her being there. Before she can react, his hand is around her chin and they are pressed up against the wall; uncomfortably close. "For someone who clearly doesn't like being a Culebra, you surely are quick to use the perks."

"Want to be funny, Princess?" He presses himself against her; a pit stirs in her stomach. "For someone who claims they don't trust Culebras, you are pretty chummy with the boys out there." She curls her lip up at him and pushes him off her. Seth just chuckles as he grabs a towel and wraps it around his waist. "So what's your deal anyway? Didn't like what you saw?"

"I promised myself I would never allow a man to lay a hand on me again." Seth's smile seems to fall at those words.

 **SETH POV**

The thought of what she meant makes his stomach curl. His life was never a walk in the park, hell the closest thing he ever got to nearly having a sane, normal existence was when he was married to Vanessa but they were never good together. He watches as she turns away from him, he is still standing in nothing but a towel and she is blushing from what she knows is underneath it.

"So why all the secrecy behind your life? Tanner told me what he knew," she looks at him in horror. "Look I'm not judging, shit I would be the last one to judge. I just don't take well to not knowing my crew; if there is a job to pull I need to know you will have my back." Seth watches her unbutton her shirt, the singlet underneath clings to her curved but toned body but it's the scars that draw his attention.

"You know all you need to know from Tanner." He isn't going to take that.

"Look, Princess. The only way to survive in this God forsaken world is to trust your family, we are your family now and we can't trust you. Now do you know what we do to those we don't trust?" He slides his finger across his throat; he leans against the wall and looks at her intently. "Now, convince me to trust you."

"You know I couldn't give a rat's ass if you trusted me?" The look in Seth's eyes causes Cat to back down in defeat. "I'm an orphan, my mother died when I was 12; she was a heroin addict. Sold her body to keep me in school and to keep a needle in her arm, one day I had come home to find her overdosed in the bathtub; needle still in her arm." Seth shifts uncomfortably, that was his own poison once upon a time, the amount of times Kate would find him drugged out of his mind or having to help him get his fix. "I was bounced around foster homes, no family of my own wanted the brat of the black sheep and even the foster families didn't want me for long; men seemed to like the fact that I was developing early, the women thought I was some devil child to lead their families astray." She laughs at that comment. "Like God would ever let a kid go through that kind of hell. When I was able to live on my own, I got myself a decent job, earned decent money and made by without any help from anyone...until I met Carlos." Seth starts to regret forcing her to relive these memories; he can see the tears beginning to well up in Cat's eyes as she absent-mindedly traces the scars on her left arm. "I bet Professor Tanner already told you that part." Seth nods. Cat stands up and turns to leave and Seth walks over to his clothes, he starts to change. "Seth?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you seem sad before? I heard a lot about Seth Gecko and he never struck me as a man who ever felt anything other than anger and pride." Seth snorts at the comment.

"Well, Princess. That's a story for another time." He heard her mutter something as she leaves. What would he have said to her? He hates how his life turned out, that he prided himself to be a professional thief until his life turned into a shit show and now he is a killer. He has so much blood on his hands that he can never wash off, the two women in his life that meant anything to him both hate him and despite him seeming as if he was the leader who held the team together; he is falling apart.


	4. When A Job Goes Sideways

**A/N Thanks for the reviews so far, they keep me going and keep me striving to keep you all hooked. It also make me smile when I get the encouragement. Has been suggested for longer chapters so will try and make that happen :) Remember guys, R &R**

* * *

 **SETH POV**

Normally Seth planned the jobs, he was good at it; a total of 36 jobs before shit went down in Abilene but Richie and the Professor know more about this blood cult than he does so he opted out to help keep spirits high. The crew are getting better, the Asian Monkey does a good job at teaching them to fight and whether Seth wants to admit it or not, Cat has improved a lot. He has to give her props, she is the underdog out of all of them and yet she was able to beat the boys in the last couple of days.

The day finally arrives; it is time to put the last three months of planning into action. Sure, the crew has only been together for two weeks and the new members have been working their asses off to get ready but they needed to do this now or else they could be waiting years before this cult shows their ugly faces again. The blood cult they are hunting are Amaru worshippers, doing her favourite kind of Culebra torture: hanging Culebras on crosses and letting them burn. They are hoping that if they sacrifice enough souls they just might be able to bring her back from the other side; the other side, which the Gecko brothers made sure, would never open again.

"Got your balls on?" Seth looks over at his brother next to him.

"Screwed on tight." Richie smiles at him.

"Anyone messes with you."

"You got my back." They always say it, no matter how big or small the job was, the Gecko brothers have each other's back.

 **CAT POV**

Cat is nervous, no amount of training would actually take away the fear of being out in open and vulnerable like she is now; sure Scott is with her and the rest of the crew are waiting for the signal but they are unarmed and in a few short moments the sun will be rising. The plan seemed simple when Richie explained it earlier: infiltrate the cult, find out where they keep the Culebra sacrifices and take out the leader. Earlier, Scott and Tanner had managed to grab a couple of followers and steal their robes so she and Scott could get in without any hassle. She laughed as they explained why she was picked for this part. Small in stature, won't draw too much attention; size seemed to matter in this case. Cat breathes as she remains close to Scott, remembering everything she had been taught in the few short weeks she was a Culebra.

"Hey, relax okay? If you concentrate enough, you can stop the burning and as long as you are covered, you will be fine." Scott nods at her. She gives him a half smile in response. The chanting begins as they make their way through the church doors to a roofless room; three crosses line the back wall and Cat cannot help but retch inside at the piles of ash beneath each cross. "I'm going to sneak through and find where they are holding the Culebras." She nods as Scott slowly backed away from her. She tries to focus, even though her hands are intertwined inside the sleeves of the robe she can feel the sun trying to burn her alive. Commotion starts happening behind her as she turns quickly, flicking the hood of her head and sees Scott being dragged forward.

"Intruders!" A man wearing a white robe walks forward; well at least they identified the leader. "These Culebra tried to ruin our sacrifice to Queen Amaru. They continue to defy her with their acts of rebellion!" Many of the followers shout in outrage. "We will not allow such treason in our halls; they will be the next to offer their souls to the rightful Queen of this world." Cat tries to fight off her attackers but there are too many and she is quickly overpowered.

* * *

Chains tied to her wrists and neck, the sun beating down on her, she looks over at Scott who looks just as defeated as she does; this was not part of the plan. She trusted that Richie and Tanner had gone over every inch of detail but she guess it was just bad luck. She had a way of finding trouble in the calmest places, no shit it was going to find her in the middle of a bloody cult.

 **SETH POV**

Something isn't right. He can feel it, Richie can feel it and looking over at the car next to them; he could tell that Tanner can even feel it. The sacrifices are always made at dawn, it is now 7am and there looks like there's a bit of unaccounted commotion going on inside. Seth texts the kid _'Hey, what is going on?'_ , after a few minutes there is still no reply; something is not right. He can feel it in his gut.

"You think they've been caught, brother?" Richie looks at him, Seth nods.

"It's not like the kid to not answer his phone. He is always on his bloody phone and he was meant to send us a text when he found where the Culebras are kept." Seth rubs his forehead in frustration. Richie nudges him and points towards the church.

"Look, they're leaving." Richie signals the rest of the crew. "There is an underground tunnel that leads to the church from an old mining shaft; let's wait until they leave and go get them." _What if they are already dead?_ Seth shakes the thought from his head, he needed to be cool, the plan needs to be adjusted and if they find Cat and Scott then they will find the rest of the Culebras.

* * *

It is a quick run to the mining shaft, Seth has to concentrate on not burning to a crisp within the 100m sprint from the car to the entrance, the two new guys didn't have as much luck; both looked one ray away from being ash. Thank fuck for fast healing, even if it does hurt like a bitch. They move quietly through the tunnel, Richie leads in the front with Seth bringing in the rear, until they reach the staircase to the church.

"Something doesn't feel right." His gut is giving him some bad vibes.

"Yeah, seems too easy to get in." Devon agrees with him, he was trained for this sort of thing if anyone knew a job was going to go sideways, it would be someone who did rescue missions for a living. "If they are alive, we need to get them out quick before someone comes back." As they make their way through the door at the top of the stairs, the reason for the feeling in Seth's gut becomes clear. It is a trap. Ten robed followers stood around the room holding weapons while another two hold stakes to their captive's hearts.

"Well fuck, let's get this party started."

 **CAT POV**

 _We are so screwed._ She looks at the rag tag team who are meant to be their saviours only to feel like someone has already stabbed her through the heart. Sure the Gecko brothers look smoking hot standing there in their all black suits with dark shades on and guns pointed at their captors, sure Tanner, Jacob and Devon look pretty badass flanking them but nothing could help the pit in her stomach from forming as she felt the stake pushing against her chest.

"Well fuck, let's get this party started." She shudders as his first shot landed right above her. Her captor drops like a sack of potatoes, as does the stake. She takes no time in jumping to her side and knocking Scott's captor over.

"Thanks." Scott kicks the fallen cultist in the face before running to help their crew. Cat breathes in deeply before jumping into the fold, fangs ready and bites an enemy in the neck. She tastes his blood and feels his memories flood her mind before she tears back, ultimately killing him.

"Quick, let's get out of here." Richie, supporting a few cuts, shoots a cultist between the eyes. "Seth!" Cat turns, a moment too late, as Seth is stabbed in the side; she leaps towards them, landing the assailant flat on her back and snaps her neck before she could raise her knife. Cat pockets the knife before running over to Seth.

"Here, let me help." He laughs as he wraps an arm around her shoulders. The wound isn't healing and it seems to be causing him a lot of pain as they reach the staircase where Richie is waiting.

"Thanks Cat, I can take him from here." She nods. Geckos stick together, the truest thing she has ever seen. She can tell these two would die for each other if they had to. Reaching the entrance, she pauses at the line of sunlight.

"What's wrong Princess?" Seth coughs as he stands beside her while Richie runs to bring the car around. "Can rip the throat out of a bat shit crazy cultist but a bit of sunlight scares you?" He laughs, which causes him to groan afterwards. "Fuck."

"My life of walking in the sun ended a long time before I was a Culebra, Seth." She tries to hide the venom in her voice, to no avail. Richie parks the car as close as he can. "Come on, Hot Shot." She helps him once again, he swears as she accidentally touches his wound. They move quickly and before the burning sensation sets in, Cat feels something she knew she had not felt in years: the warmth of the sun.

* * *

 **Also forgive the crappy fight scene, I don't do too well with those but as we know, the Geckos can't go anywhere without trouble starting :)**


	5. Acceptance And Denial

**SETH POV**

Breathing hurt like a bitch, moving hurt like a bitch and "Son-of-a-bitch!" Richie trying to coax the wound to heal hurt even more. Seth had to deal with many injuries in his time but he had to admit, "Jesus fucken Christ, Richie!" this one is the worse.

"Stop being a baby." Richie mocks his older brother while Seth wriggles away from him. Seth swings a fist, which Richie ducks. "Okay, okay. I'll stop. We need to debrief the team anyway." Seth pulls his singlet down and follows behind his brother, time to put his game face on.

* * *

"Right so what do we know?" Seth looks more towards Scott for an answer.

"They have a separate cellar room for the Culebras they use as sacrifice. We were down there for a little while before they realised who I was."

"And how did they figure that out?" Richie ran his hand through his already slicked back hair. "And how did they know we would come for you?" Scott shrugs.

"The leader is a Culebra." Everyone turns to look at Cat. "The cult member that I bite, he had some memories of the leader." She looks down in shame. "The leader was there when Amaru came back, helped bring her Culebras to use. He is faithful even after she turned around and did the same to him. His venom glands are missing but he still worships Amaru. Half the cultists aren't even Culebras, they are human, that one definitely was but from what I seen and what happened, the leader knew straight away who Scott was; told them that the Gecko brothers would attempt to rescue one of their own and that their sacrifice would be the ultimate treat for their _Queen_." Cat nearly spat the word out.

"Well isn't this dandy." Seth closes his eyes and scratches his head. "Another group to add to the growing list."

"They were using Xibalban blades too." Tanner points to the blood stain on Seth's shirt. "That's some real dedication to be using those on your own kind." The Professor almost looks impressed by the thought. Of course he does, he's a bloody cult nut.

"Yeah well this is all great and all but I've had enough crazy shit today. Richie and the Professor can work all this shit out tomorrow." He isn't in the mood for pleasantries and he is in too much pain to even care.

 **CAT POV**

The moment Seth had left the room, everyone went about their own business; Richie and Tanner to go find someone to eat and the boys went to go and shoot some pool but Cat isn't sure what she is going to do. She pulls the knife out and looks it over: obsidian blade with a coarse bone handle. _Seth's wound is still bleeding._ She wonders if this is a Xibalban blade but in her musings, she accidentally cuts her finger with it.

"Shit." She watches as a droplet of blood pools from the wound, despite being a crude and ancient looking weapon, the blade was sharper than it looks. After a few seconds, the pain in her finger resides and the skin stitches itself back together. Without even thinking, Cat took off in the direction of Seth's room.

* * *

"You want me to do what?!" Seth takes a step back away from her, she did expect this to happen; it is considered disgusting to feed off other Culebras. It doesn't stop from hurting Cat's feelings, she never wanted to be a feed bag but now in order to save Seth's life she has to put her fear and own disgust aside.

"Look, I know it sounds absurd..."

"You're fucken right it does. Cat, do you not realise you are not human anymore?" Cat pulls out the knife, her hesitation to help Seth evaporates; now she wants to punch him in his smug, handsome face.

"I fucken realise that!" She got in Seth's face. He didn't back away. "You think I want you to use me to feed? No, but I'm not going to sit back and watch you die either!" Cat takes the knife and slides it across her palm, wincing from the sharp pain it causes. Seth watches as her cut begins to heal after a few seconds. "That enough to convince you?" He nods. _Fucken stubborn asshole._

 **SETH POV**

He knows that some Culebras develop special abilities: Scott with his hardened skin and Richie creepy hand in eye crap he does to control people but this is some real fucked up shit.

"What do you have to lose?" Cat looks at him with worry and determination in her grey-blue eyes. He cringes at what he is about to do. Cat slowly sits down beside him, why does he feel like a teenage boy about to have sex for the first time. He shakes his head as Cat lifts her arm for him to take, he can see hundreds of puncture wounds and realises that this must be hard for her to do. "Just hurry up okay? I don't want anyone to walk in and see." Seth smiles.

"What's wrong, Princess? Afraid of getting caught." He laughs as she glares at him but something in her eyes suggests some form of surprise. Seth takes a deep breath as Cat closes her eyes and he allows his fangs to drop as he bites into her wrist; the flavour he tastes as he drinks a few mouthfuls of blood is beyond anything he has ever had before. Memories flash in his mind, ones that are not his; a woman in the bathtub, eyes open, and pale with a needle in the arm that hangs over the bath while a little girl cries on the floor. Nightmares of an older male with thick-rimmed glasses and a handle bar moustache grabbing a young girl by the arm with a snarl across his lips. Countless flashes of Culebras using a scared young woman as a chew toy and worse; the last image causes Seth to stop. Fingers lightly trace his ribs as Cat looks up with an incredulous smile.

"It's healed." Seth lifts up his singlet, electing a small gasp from beside him. The skin was flawless, no scar and no pain. Shit, he could almost kiss her.

"Jesus Christ Princess," he gives Cat a wink. "Aren't you full of surprises?" She half-heartedly laughs as she stands up and walks towards the door.

"Just don't tell anyone. Please." The innocence in her voice takes him off-guard. All he can do is nod before the door closes behind her. He felt good, better than ever but it didn't stop the sense of hate from taking over; he nearly enjoyed the taste of her. It made him sick knowing that for a moment, he almost accepted the way his life was now but then reality sinks in and he knows, he still fucken hates this bloodsucking shit. Seth thinks back to what he saw when their minds linked; she was the one who found her mother dead in the tub. She grew up around scumbags who constantly manhandled her. She had so many feed on her and yet in his time of need, she gives up something precious for him. Even though he already knew it, it was different seeing and feeling it than hearing about it. Seth shudders at what she might have seen but that is tomorrow's problem.

 **CAT POV**

As Cat makes her way back to her room, she absent-mindedly traces where Seth had bitten her; it has healed but it is a habit she could not seem to let it go of. Cat saw something in her mind when Seth bit her, a piece of his past, he could understand her pain of losing her mother because he was as hooked on heroin just as hard as she was. The image was vivid, a young girl helping him inject himself as he was too fucked to even move, looking after him while he slept even though when he came down from a high he was a total bastard to her. Kate. Cat knew who she was and despite not having anything to do with her personally, she can't help but be a little bit jealous of this other girl.

Cat strips off her clothes and stretches, despite the small flaws in her skin her body is perfect and she admires being able to move freely after being captive for so long. Another training day tomorrow and she was not going to hold back; she was not going to lose again.


End file.
